Letters

Peter Erlinder’s Answer to Brian Atwood

While I very much appreciate Law & Politics’ recognizing my work at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (UN-ICTR), the article quoted Humphrey Institute Dean J. Brian Atwood attributing to me false allegations that he was involved with Kofi Annan in suppressing evidence of war crimes committed by the current Rwandan government when Dean Atwood was head of USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] in Africa in late 1994. Let me be clear: I was not in Rwanda in 1994 and I can make no claims based on my own knowledge. I also have no interest in defaming Dean Atwood and don’t believe I have done so.

However, as a courtesy, I have informed him that original, contemporaneous U.N. and U.S. State Department documents, which are in evidence at the UN-ICTR, describe a USAID-sponsored investigation into war crimes, which revealed widespread crimes by the current Rwandan government (conclusions confirmed in independent reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch in late 1994). U.N. and State Department memos from September/October 1994, also in evidence at the ICTR, report meetings between Mr. Annan, Mr. Atwood and the former Rwandan foreign minister in which suppression of these crimes was discussed, as is the sworn testimony of Minister Ndagijimana, who testified that he refused to cooperate with the proposed suppression and went into exile in November 1994.

I believe this description of the evidence is correct and that Dean Atwood’s quarrel is with this evidence, not with me. In accusing me of defamation for having accurately described the evidence involving him, Dean Atwood has called my own bona fides into question, and I hope he will retract and refrain from doing so in the future.

Prof. Peter Erlinder, ICTR Lead Counsel

Nick Coleman — Smart and a Snappy Dresser

I read with interest the articles on Nick Coleman in the February/March 2009 issue of Minnesota Law & Politics. I knew him when I worked for the legislature in the late ’60s and subsequently when I served in the Minnesota House of Representatives in the early ’70s. Although we were from opposite political persuasions, I appreciated his smarts, wit and fine threads.

Sen. Coleman always seemed to be able to garner good press coverage. I recall lunchtime a number of years ago and meeting Sen. Coleman in the Capitol rotunda. He was being followed single-file by the press writers from the UPI, AP, St. Paul papers and other media personnel who covered the legislature back then. I greeted Sen. Coleman and said, to the hearty laughter of the press core, “Hello, Senator. I see you’re taking your staff to lunch.”

Steven B. Szarke

More on Coleman

Pat Coleman told me, and it delighted him, that the clerk in the White Way Cleaners on Grand Avenue chased him to the door in order to get his autograph on his photo in the L&P Nick story.

My association was, like so many, close. John Milton, for example, served with him in the legislature, and when he turned up wearing a jean jacket on his first day of service after being elected, Nick handed him a tie. We await his biography of Nick, now in progress.

When Nick ran for the legislature the first time, he opposed the long-seated Peter Popovich. John Connolly, now a judge, was one of the lads who orchestrated nabbing the DFL endorsement for Nick and away from Popovich, all of which left Mr. Popovich forever infuriated. Later, when I ran for City Council, I asked Nick if I might use his name on my lit. He said, “Yes. Use my name, or don’t, whichever helps you the most.” His “go and sin some more” was his usual farewell greeting. He was always quick with a quip. Once, while I was sitting on a raised platform in a long-gone Chinese restaurant on Grand and Victoria, Nick passed by and said, “I see you are engaging in exhibitionist dining.” That sort of fast memorable remark was a constant. Many of us supported him in his failed run for governor, and remain ever grateful to him for his peace position during the Vietnam War.

One thing that struck me was Lacy indicating that Nick was in favor of building the domed stadium. As I recall, he was not.

I visited him in the University Hospital when he was dying—of a type of leukemia that had earlier taken a 4-year-old daughter of his—and he said, “The doctors are like nuns. They always travel in pairs.”

One of my all-time favorite lines came from Ora Lee Patterson, a leader in St. Paul’s black community, who served on Nick’s Senate staff. She spoke at his farewell dinner when he left the legislature, and as it turned out, it was on the day he was diagnosed with leukemia. The dinner was held at the then-Prom on University Avenue, and Ora Lee in her remarks said, “Nick, you are a credit to your race.” He was.

Carol Connolly, St. Paul poet laureate and famed columnist

Correction: How L&P Lost Its Groove

In our piece “How the DFL Got Its Groove Back” in our August/September issue, we misspelled Sarah Janecek’s name and attributed her company as Dolan Group instead of Dolan Media Company. We also got Matt Entenza’s title wrong. We won’t be submitting the piece to the Pulitzers. Our regrets.